Being the victim
by Scrimshaw89
Summary: Is anything able to prepare you for when the past is rehappening? [GSR CWR GOC hints and later chapters]
1. commencement

Title: Being the Victim

Author: Scrimshaw

Timeline: Doesn't really has one, takes place quite a long time before Sara's DUI.

A/N: Please keep in mind that English is not my mother tongue and be kind with the mistakes of my grammar or language, please. I'm trying to get better, I promise ;)

Disclaimer: I don't own any of CSI's characters, unfortunately. :P And if my story has anything in common with another, it wasn't intended.

Summary: Is anything able to prepare you for when the past is happening again?

Nothing would have been able to prepare her for the sight she saw now. It was just as if she was reliving what she had to go through during her late childhood.

It wasn't exactly how it had been for her, but she still saw a lot of similarities with the teenaged girl who was lying in the hospital bed in front of her. The girl was only 16 years old, but had experienced things that Sara wouldn't want her worst enemies to go through.

Her face barely looked human. There were bruises and scratches everywhere, and she had a swollen black eye. But that wasn't the worst thing. The Doctor had told her what other injuries that young girl had: a deep slice in her abdomen 35 centimetre long and nearly 1 ½ centimetre deep; several burned areas at her lower and upper arms; abrasions at her wrists and ankles.

They had also discovered some nasty scars and healed fractures.

When Sara heard wheezing, she stepped closer to the bed. Seeing that the girl was awake, she began her questioning.

"Hey, I'm Sara Sidle and I'm with the Las Vegas Crime Lab. Are you able to answer some questions for me?"

After some more wheezing, the girl tried to speak. "Yes," she managed to get out. "Pen…"

Sara sat down on a chair next to the bed, and got a paper and a pen out of her kit.

"How do you feel?" Sara asked gently. With a quivering hand, the girl wrote "bad," and held up the paper for Sara to see.

"What's your name?" Sara questioned.

"Kersten." She wrote, in shaky writing.

"And your last name?"

"Connors."

"Do you remember what happened to you?" Sara asked, observing Kersten's face closely.

"Yes," read the answer.

"Do you also know who did it to you?"

This time the note read "No."

"I'll like to take samples from underneath your fingernails if that's OK with you?"

Kersten nodded and Sara began with her work.

When she was finished, she looked up again and sat down next to the girl. "It's not the first time you were punished, right?" she asked Kersten gently.

Kersten nodded and Sara went on asking questions.

"Who did it to you?"

This time Kersten wrote on the paper again...

"A friend of my brother, Simon."

A brief pause settled over them for some seconds.

"I'll come back when I have news..." Sara promised Kersten, while on her way out of the room.

When she entered the cold hospital hallway, she was surprised to see Grissom standing outside of the door.

"Hi..." She greeted him, a sad smile capturing her lips.

"How're you doing?" he asked her, a caring expression on his face.

"Oh, I'm going to get the guy who did this to her. Fortunately, I got her name and some guy who has beaten her in the past. She has several healed fractures and older bruises and black spots..."

"Do you need a ride to the lab?" Grissom asked her, holding the door open for her.

"Yeah, one of the Officers drove me here. Greg's taking the evidence we collected at the scene to the lab right now."

"You look drained Sara..."

She could swear she heard concern in his voice...

"I'm not drained, Griss..." She protested immediately. "It's nothing..."

She got a disbelieving glance as an answer. Defensively she added, "Really, let's just go!"

Grissom rolled his eyes and went after her, leading her to his SUV.

"Why do you know where I'm at, anyways?" She asked him, trying to break the silence that had settled over them.

"We had shooting at an old warehouse and two Detectives were hit. I was questioning the officer who was slightly injured. His partner is in a coma right now. The whole office is trying to get the guys who did it. They actually got one of the gang, and apparently they've got a plan to kill officers. They have a list and as far as I know from Brass, they're just at the beginning."

"That sounds really awful." Sara answered, while waiting for the car door to unlock. "Are there just officers on that list or other employees of the department, too?" She asked curiously.

"Brass made a deal with the guy they caught. He's just 16 and didn't do any of the shooting. That's confirmed by the evidence..."

"...and evidence never lies." Sara finished with a chuckle.

"Yeah, right..." Grissom smirked. "Want to get some coffee on the way back to the lab?" he asked her while starting the engine.

"Sure..." Sara began, but was cut off by the sound of the windscreen splintering.

Bending down automatically, both of them covered their heads and ducked under the dashboard.

"You ok?" Grissom asked in a rush, checking her over with a quick glance.

"Sure, you?" Sara replied.

"Fine" he answered.

"Let's get out of here." Grissom hissed and ducked out of the driver's seat, hiding behind the car next to his. Sara emerged after him, and ran after, trying not to loose him. People were running and hiding behind their cars, screaming; frightened to death.

After some minutes, they were in the safety of the hospital, waiting for the Police Officers the hospital personnel had phoned to arrive.

Sara felt exhausted. She slipped into one of the seats, closing her eyes and catching her breath.

"Sara?" Grissom said softly, sitting down next to her. "Your face is a little bruised." He told her gently, reassuring her when her eyes flew open.

"Is it bad?" she asked in a hurry.

"Nothing to worry about, but I'll get you a nurse to take a look at it, ok?"

After a sigh, Sara nodded.

She sat waiting for Grissom to return, listening to the sounds of sirens coming closer and closer, stopping finally outside of the hospital.

TBC soon, but please hit the review button and let me know what you think ;)


	2. and hell begins

Disclaimer: See part one.

Summary: The shots come, and they're not prepared…

LVPD were dispatched to the hospital as soon as the alarm was raised. The security personnel had the building protected by now, but nobody had seen where or why the shooting had started in the first place.

The patrol officers walked into the lobby and questioned the woman at the front desk, asking her who had alarmed them. The second patrol at to the scene secured Grissom's car. It was while they were calling the LVPD office to order a CSI team and backup, that they noticed the equipment kit with the label of the 'LV-CSI.'

Brass was called to the scene to support the CSIs working the case. As soon as he was there, he recognised Grissom's car and went looking for him. He showed his ID card to the officers at the hospital entrance, who told him the owner of the car was inside the hospital. Terrified, Brass hurried to find out if something had happened to Grissom, and was relieved when he finally saw him sitting next to Sara, and apparently ok.

A nurse was standing beside them talking to Sara, when Grissom noticed Brass. He waved over at him looking slightly pale, worried and annoyed.

"Hey Grissom, you guys alright?" Jim asked, as he stood in front of him.

With resignation, Grissom looked up. "I think we are. Sara got a scratch, but that's all I know about so far. I don't know if anybody else is hurt…" He looked up at Jim expectantly.

"No, there's no one hurt. But I got the list from that 16 year old, you know, that kid called Barry." He trailed off.

"And…?" Grissom asked impatiently.

"Well, I was just going through it when I was called to a shooting scene here at Desert Springs. I knew the officer who was shoot this morning was here, so I got here, ASAP."

Just at that moment, Catherine and Warrick came into the lobby, and stormed over to the front desk. The woman there patiently pointed in the direction of Sara, Grissom and Brass.

"God, glad you're alright!" They told them as they approached.

"Yeah…" Grissom smirked. "And now you both get to work, or we'll never catch the one who did it."

When the two left again, Brass handed Grissom some sheets of paper. As he read them through, some names caught his attention.

"What the hell….." he muttered under his breath. After a slight pause, he looked up at Brass. "Did you get something out of that Barry boy that leads us to know why they would want to harm these Police officers?"

Sara put her hand on his and turned it around so that she could read the papers too. The same names that had caught Grissom's attention were way too familiar for her as well.

"I think we should warn Cath and War." She spoke up, immediately. "If those crazy cop-killers are still out there somewhere, they might be in danger."

Just as she had finished they heard a series of shots coming from outside. Grissom and Brass, who had his gun unlocked in his hand, ran to the door. Sara jumped up after them, but was immediately overwhelmed by a wave of dizziness that forced her back down into her chair, closing her eyes and praying that nothing had happened to Cath and War.

_Some minutes earlier in the parking lot:_

"So…" Catherine took a good look at the windshield of Grissom's car. "Seems like it got only one bullet…" She took out a long stick and put it through the hole, reading off the angle at which the bullet had entered the windshield. "65 degrees…." She looked up at the roof of the hospital.

"Hey War!" she shouted, staring at expectantly at him.

"You found something?" He asked her, while walking over.

"The shoot came from the roof of the building." She walked away a bit, to have a better upwards look. "War… we should go up there and see what we can find..."

"Cath, down!" Warrick shouted suddenly, seeing a muzzle flash up at the roof.

He fell to the ground, and hid behind Grissom's car.

Terrified he looked over at Cath, who was lying motionless just meters away from him.

More shots rang out, one hitting Cath in the chest, the others hitting the two patrolmen securing the scene.

"Cath!" War yelled, but she remained motionless…

_Back inside the hospital:_

"Phone the Police Department!" Brass shouted to the front desk. "Tell them there's an Officer down!" And with that he was gone, together with the two other policemen.

"Catherine! Warrick!" Brass called them, hiding under the canopy.

"Brass!" He heard Warrick answering him. "Cath got shot, she's hit in the chest and somewhere else too…there's so much blood!"

Paramedics ran out of the lobby and waited behind Brass, ready to go get Cath if they got his okay.

"Brass! The shooter is at the roof! You've got to get 'em!" Warrick shouted.

Brass advised the patrolmen to go with him up to the roof to find the person who had shot three of his colleagues. EMTs were working on one of the fallen officers, who lay very close the entrance of the hospital. Soon they got him inside and to the ER.

The other officer lay in the middle of the parking lot, within the range of vision of the shooter.

Grissom stood by the entrance, watching the scene in front of him. Overwhelmed and helpless; desperately hoping for Cath and the officers who had been shot.

TBC…

A/N So if you've read this, just leave a short note and say what ya think about it, one review is a bit depressing. I promise to get the next chapter ready sooner than this one ;)

Special thank´s to Summers, who betaed me these two first chapters  


	3. another perspective

**Disclaimer: See part one**

**Summary: Sometimes you need to look through the eyes of someone else…**

**xxXXxx **

**A/N: **This chapter is written from the perspective of "Da-Car" (the shooter) ; it´s theoretically the first part of the third chapter. Next part up soon, I promise.

Another perspective

**xxXXxx **

Memories of my younger brother are floating around my head as I aim down at the officers in the parking lot.

It's my revenge.

It's only fair. They took him from his family, his friends. Took him without reason.

Robin had been such a loving and cheerful kid; it was just too hard to accept his death. I need someone to pay for what happened to him.

After the first two shots I feel nothing but emptiness filling my heart.

Killing other people won't bring him back to life. I knew that long before this day even came. I just hoped that it might make the pain go away.

_Wrong guess,_ I think sarcastically. _It just got worse._

I aim for a third and last time, then grab my stuff and hide at the other end of the roof, waiting for the other officers come to take their own revenge.

**xXx**

It doesn't take them long.

I watch two officers walking onto the roof, watching each other's backs. They look in my direction and come towards me.

They tell me to let go of the gun.

That's when I feel the cold material in my hand, like it would feel for the first time, and it kind of is.

I realise what I've done, and I feel the guilt creeping up in my chest.

They took my brother away; took my sunshine.

I'm torn between the anguish of guilt and the ecstasy of revenge.

Looking into the eyes of the two men in front of me, I make a decision.

I step backwards until I feel the roof-edge at my lower legs.

Smiling sadly at them I hold the picture of Jimmy to my heart and lean back, feeling my heartbeat raise as I fall.

I watch the ground coming closer and closer till I finally feel the pain, and the darkness encloses me.

**xxXXxx**

TBC…

A/N Thank´s to summers again for the reading beta; and thanks for all the kind rewviews. Ps, I´m sorry that it´s so short, th enext is going to be longer :)

**xxXXxx**

(AlwaysWrite05 O.O" yeah, you got me right. He shot her the twice time while she was lying on the groound.)


	4. waiting

Disclaimer: See part one

A/N Thank´s to summers again for her great work :)

Summary: Loosing a "member" and waiting for news…

xxXXxx

Sara paced around in the lobby of the hospital. Looking out of the window next to her, she was relieved to see that the reinforcements had arrived. '_Finally…'_ she thought, looking at the clock hanging on the wall. But since the beginning of the shooting only 10 minutes had passed.

Brass had gone to the roof with two patrolmen to stop the shooter.

Warrick and Catherine were still out in the shooting field, and from what they had seen the situation was not good. Warrick seemed to be ok, but Cath had been shot at least once, along with the two other patrolmen.

"Sara!" Grissom called from across the room.

"Grissom?"

"Come here…" His voice sounded strangely calm. Hurrying, Sara walked over to see what he was staring at.

The deformed body of Da-car was lying in the parking lot.

After a short time, Brass came running from the elevators.

"The roof is clear!" He shouted. "Go help them!"

The EMTs immediately ran over to Cath and the patrolman. Warrick rushed out from his place behind Grissom's car and knelt down beside the EMTs working on Cath. Within seconds, they got her onto a stretcher and carried her inside. Warrick stood still behind at the doors to the ER watching through the window, until Grissom found him and took him to the waiting area.

Sara watched the two men for some seconds before walking into the room.

"I'm going back to the lab." Concern was showing on her face. "They're already processing the parking lot. Some people from dayshift are working doubles; we're not supposed to work on this scene." As she saw Warricks hurt look she shook her head slightly.

"She's going to be OK, Warrick." She tried to assure him.

"I don't know…" Warrick sighed. He couldn't get the images of Cath lying on the ground and being shot again out of his head.

A silence fell over them, only to be broken suddenly by Grissom's beeper startling them all. "Greg…" He stated simply, and walked out.

Five minutes later Brass stormed into the room looking slightly pale.

"Have you guys seen Grissom?" He asked, concerned.

"No, he left a few minutes ago. What's happened?" Sara asked him, getting curious about what had made the detective this fluttered.

"We've got another officer down…" He explained. "Ecklie was on his way over here to get an oversight of the situation, and it seems that his car was attacked. He was shot once in the head and twice in the chest."

With that, Brass fell silent.

"Do you think that the same group shooting the two officers in the warehouse this morning and attacking Cath and War are responsible for this?" She asked.

"We don't know for sure, Sara. Ecklie wasn't on the list, and it seems that most of the officers who are on it were working in the field or at the court. None of that matches Ecklie." He sighed. "The director has started an internal investigation about his death. A team of CSIs is coming over from another city. At this point everybody working for the department is a suspect."

Brass was silenced by a nurse walking through the room. Warrick looked up hopefully, then over at the clock over at the wall. Nearly one hour had passed since they had taken Cath to surgery.

Sara followed his thoughts and looked at her watch. "I really should go. If you get to know anything about Cath's condition call me, ok?" She asked, squeezing Warrick's shoulder in sympathy.

"Will do, Sara." He answered.

Sara noticed the change that had got to his face since she saw him in the morning. The spark was gone out of his eyes, and his face was a paler brown than his usual skin colour.

Brass left him half an hour later, explaining that he had to go to a scene.

xxXXxx

Just as Brass was leaving Warrick alone in the waiting room, Sara arrived at the lab. She went straight to the break room, where Grissom, Nick and Greg were sat at the table and discussing the case. Knocking at the doorframe, she stepped into the room.

"Do you have any news on Cath's condition?" Greg asked her immediately.

"No, they still have her in surgery… but Warrick will call us as soon as he knows something."

They were interrupted by a young lab tech storming into the room.

"I got the lab results of the separate blood found at your crime scene. I ran a search at CODIS and I´ve got a match." She handed Sara a folder.

"Derio Da-car…."

xxXXxx

Meanwhile at the hospital Warrick was sitting in the waitingroom, his head in his hands waiting for news, when he heard a familiar voice.

"What do you mean you won't tell me what happened!" A very angry Lindsey attacked the police officer who had picked her up from school and brought her to the hospital.

"Lindsay!" Warrick walked over to her and took her into a warm embrace. The police officer left quickly, relieved to get away from the upset girl.

"They took me out of my class to tell me that something happened to my mother and that she is in hospital, but they won't tell me what happened… How is she!"

"Someone shot at Grissom and Sara in the parking lot…" Warrick replied carefully, watching the shock on Lindsey's face increasing he hurried to reassure her. "Nothing serious happened to them, but your mom and I were ordered to process the scene. We were told it was clear, but someone opened fire on us and your mom was shot. The doctors took her into surgery. That's all I know, but I think they'll get her out there soon. She's been in there for an hour and a half already."

"Oh god..." Lindsey began to cry, remembering the argument she had with her mother in the morning when she had dropped her off at school. They sat closely together for about five minutes, comforting each other and praying for Cath until a nurse walked up to them.

"Are you here for Ms Willows?" She asked them, a sympathetic expression on her face.

"Yes…" Warrick answered, pointing to Lindsey. "Lindsey Willows and Warrick Brown."

"They finished the surgery. She's stabilized and her vital functions are OK. The bullet in her neck was removed, and luckily it didn't do any damage to her spine, but she did loose a lot of blood and had to have a blood transfusion. Some of her ribs are fractured and there's a contusion over her ribs as well, which might hurt while breathing."

"I want to see her!" Lindsey pleaded, her eyes red from crying.

"She's in room number 165, ICU. But she's asleep right now."

The nurse showed them to Catherine's room. An officer posted outside the door let them in, and Lindsey ran over to the bed, taking her mothers hand cautiously in hers.

"Mom…." She whispered, tears forming in her eyes as she looked at the pale face of her mother, and the mask on her face connected to the respirator.

Warrick watched Catherine's limp body and felt the fear increasing. He tried to reassure himself that they had stabilized her; that she was going to be fine… But it didn´t work well. He watched her in the way Lindsey had watched her, realizing as well how fragile and hurt she looked. When he realized Lindsey was crying again he walked over and hugged her, telling her that everything would be all right.

When she calmed down, he took two chairs and placed them next to the bed. They both sat down and began holding Catherine's hands, watching her; listening to the beeping of the machines indicating that she was still alive.

TBC


End file.
